Matched betting, a concept which almost sounds too good to be true.
A technique that allows you to continually beat the bookmakers and make hundreds if not thousands of pounds each and every month.
This guide will cover the legalities around matched betting and answer the question once and for all, is matched betting legal in the UK?
Is Matched Betting Legal?
The simple answer is yes, matched betting is completely legal as when it’s broken down all that you are doing is placing two different bets with two different companies to guarantee a profit.
Matched betting is completely legal and you have nothing to worry about in terms of the law, the concept of matched betting has been endorsed on money saving expert and the guardian newspaper along with other well-respected mainstream media outlets.
What is Matched Betting?
Matched Betting relies on the use of bookmakers promotional offers to guarantee a profit.
Predominately this is achieved using free bets that bookmakers provide to all of their customers.
A free bet is exactly what it says on the tin, a free bet is essentially free money offered out by the bookmaker for the customer to use on whichever outcome they like.
If their bet wins they pocket the winnings, if their bet loses they simply dont lose any money as the customer’s bet was placed using the bookmaker’s free bet money and not their own.
Free bets and bonuses are the only slither of value bookmakers can offer out to their customers, the odds they offer dont represent any form of mathematical value and there are much better options for prices elsewhere.
As bookmakers dont offer value with their odds they are forced to entice recreational punters to remain on their platforms by offering out bonuses and free bets.
If you are smart and you want to make money online with matched betting you can use these bonuses and free bets to guarantee a risk-free profit each and every time.
Click here to learn more about matched betting…
Are There Any Risks To Matched Betting?
Matched betting is an astonishingly low-risk form of gambling, the risk is so low many people argue that matched betting isn’t actually gambling at all and is simply an online money-making system that just happens to be implemented by using online bookmakers.
With this being said there are very small risks associated with matched betting.
Human Error
The first of which is human error and making a mistake, entering the wrong stake on a bet, having a bet only partially matched on the betting exchange and betting on the wrong outcome on the bookmaker’s website are the most common errors.
Luckily when these errors occur they are a very easy fix and if they are not tended too will generally only result in really small losses which are completely outweighed by the profits that are continually made each and every day from matched betting.
It’s also possible to make one of these errors and actually profit, if this happens it’s important to mark it down as a mistake in which you managed to get lucky and refrain from making the same error again.
Palpable Error
This risk arises from the side of the bookmaker, typically this is specific to the lower quality lesser-known bookmakers.
The palpable error is a shady trick that smaller bookmakers are known to implement, although this isn’t common it still occurs.
The palpable error sees a bookmaker void your entire back bet that you placed with them or inform you that they made a mistake with their initial pricing that you managed to get with your bet, subsequently paying you out at the new shorter price.
Example Palpable Error (click to enlarge)
This is a problem as you will be covering the back bet with the bookmaker with a lay bet on the betting exchange, once the palpable error is applied its possible to be left with a significant imbalance between the two bets.
There is an easy fix to this however, only matched bet with mainstream high-quality bookmakers which arent required to be overly cautious with bets that they take.
Palpable errors with these bookmakers are much less common and should they occur you will generally be notified in advance of the start time of the event you have your bet on, this will allow you time to rectify the potential imbalance between your back and lay bets.
Why Doesn’t Everyone Do Matched Betting?
There are various reasons as to why everybody doesn’t do matched betting, this is due to many different people with different backgrounds encountering the concept.
People who discover matched betting can generally be placed into two different groups, non-gamblers and recreational gamblers.
Check out the video I have provided below for more information on the topic.
Is Matched Betting Still Worth it?
The simple answer is yes, anytime there is easy money to be made from such a basic concept it’s always worth investing your time in.
Although bookmakers have tightened up their tolerance to customers who continually take value from them and who dont fall into the betting habits of recreational customers, there is still lots of money to be made online with matched betting.
From the welcome offers alone on OddsMonkey there is just short of £1000 of risk-free cash to be earned, from there you have the opportunity to make anywhere from £200-£2000 per month dependant on how much time your willing to invest and how much money you have on hand to invest into your matched betting.
